A Crescendo for the Ages
by SSGScarlettShinzo
Summary: The aftermath of the battle with Irganese is very difficult for our heroes, but now that Rayne is gone, how will they survive? What is next for them? Is it time for Buu? Find out, in the compelling story "a Crescendo for the Ages!"
1. The Aftermath

Kohlra and the others were floating in space on their spaceship, silence piercing the air. Goku had just broken the news, and the planet combusted soon after, confirming what he said. "So, that's it, huh? He's gone now?" Kohlra was entirely devastated, just having lost the one person that held the clan together. "Well, it looks like we're on our own from now on." Keytar showed his first sign of emotion, his voice having a hint of sadness. Frostbyte and Vanilla were huddled in a seat, Frost comforting her. The rest of the ride was spent in silence, as no one had any significant words to say.

They landed in Capsule Corp, and Goku was the first to exit. Bulma was worried as to what happened, and as the others left the pod, it was abundantly clear. Kohlra was comforted by Keytar, and Frostbyte carried Vanilla out piggyback style, while Goku took the initiative to explain what happened. "Oh my, I, uh, I'm sorry for your loss. If you need to, you can always take residence here. We wouldn't mind taking care of all of you, since you did help defend Earth, and all." Kohlra held out her hand, her expression not changing. "The offer is appreciated, but, I don't think we want to burden you with this. We shall get our things and leave this planet. I apologise for bringing such a problem onto you."

Kohlra and the others began walking away, before Goku called out to them. "Hey guys, wait! I understand that you're sad about losing Rayne, but that doesn't mean that you can't stay. I mean, it was a mistake to tell him to leave years ago, so I want to make it right by helping the ones he loved. Can you please stay?" Kohlra looked over to Frostbyte, who took a deep breath and nodded at her. "Alright, we'll stay, but we'll stay in our home. We don't need to endanger humans." Goku smiled and rubbed his head, the others walking back to their home.

They all entered the cabin, and took a seat silently. Kohlra was the first to break the silence. "I know that, uh, your father is no longer with the living, but I want you all to remember that he's not suffering. He's just up in heaven looking down at us, alright?" Frostbyte and Vanilla timidly nodded, while Keytar gave a small grunt of understanding. "Listen, I have a request, of all of you." Everyone looked up at her, Keytar doing the same, but still with his arms crossed. "Your father would've wanted us to live our life, in peace, so I want to ask all of you if we can give up fighting." Everyone looked around at each other, exchanging looks of concern, but understanding. Keytar was the first to speak up. "Well, I'm sure that this universe has a bad guy shortage, so what's some relaxation going to hurt?" Everyone at the table laughed softly, the choice being made. As the laughter died, silence returned strong, piercing the air. After a few moments of silence, a large thud was heard outside.

Kohlra motioned for the others to stay back as she went to open the door. She placed her hand upon the door, and prepared to open it when she was immediately sent flying backwards from a large force. "Hello children! Daddy's home!" A very large creature shrouded in a blue, red, and black silhouette crashed through the door. His voice had seemingly infinite layers to it, absolutely deafening the Shinzos. Kohlra stood up and prepped to fight. "Awe, haha! That's adorable! You think that you are going to defeat me!? I'm going to squash you like a gnat!" He charged a purple ball of ki in one hand and launched it at Kohlra, knocking her entirely out of the house, and knocking her unconscious when she lands.

When Kohlra Came to, she was on the edge of the waterfall, Irganese right next to her. "Ah, well good morning darling! Glad you had a nice sleep!" His never-ending smile stabbed her soul, and rendered her immobilized by fear. "You see, your family gave a valiant effort, but they met the same fate your dear old husband did. And now, I'm just finishing up my meal before I kill you." Kohlra looked over to her right, and saw charred remains of what could only resemble an exploded Vanilla, Frostbyte, and Keytar. Kohlra was horrified, even more so knowing that they may not be able to be brought back to life ever again. Kohlra felt a burning feeling in her stomach, a feeling that only a mother who lost her entire family in one clean swoop could feel. She slowly stood up, ignoring the excruciating pain that she felt. Irganese laughed and put down the meat he was eating to match her standing.

"Oh, my dear, don't you worry about anything. I'll make sure you join them." Irganese laughed maniacally, only to be met with a tearful Kohlra. "You take my husband, you take my sons, and you take my daughter all away from me. Vanilla, she..." Kohlra stared blankly, imagining Vanilla's happy demeanor, smiling face, and adorable laugh, all things she couldn't get to experience ever again. Irganese chuckled and held his hand up, preparing to smack Kohlra down. Kohlra's expression faded from sadness to rage, as she screamed out in anger. "...She was innocent!!!" Kohlra let out one large scream, sending Irganese flying all of the way back. A bright yellow aura covered her, and she began transforming, her already mid-back length hair seeming to grow out even more. She continued to rant on while she transformed, making Irganese question his decision to keep her alive.

"Vanilla did nothing to hurt anyone, she was a poor innocent soul that didn't deserve to be caught up with the likes of us, she deserved a peaceful family that could live normally, and not have to worry about dying!" Kohlra kept rambling, her power continuing to grow, and her hair continuing to get longer. "We were going to be that family, that family that she needed, the family she deserved, but that's all dashed away now! She won't ever get to experience true peace!" Kohlra let out a final roar, before a blinding yellow light filled the air, disappearing a few moments after appearing. When the light cleared, Kohlra was in a form past that of the one Goku reached while training with Rayne. Kohlra's hair was all the way down to her ankles, her aura had electricity crackle all around her, and her eyebrows went completely missing, most likely fading into her hairline.

"Irganese, there's nothing more you can do to me, but there's everything that I can do to you." Irganese looked at her in awe, before laughing. He stood and walked over to her. "Okay, sure kid. Say hi to Rayne for me." He immediately threw a punch faster than Greece lightning, but Kohlra caught it with ease. This shocked Irganese, and it began to be excruciatingly painful when Kohlra began squeezing his hand. Irganese dropped to his knees, and kept crying out in pain. Kohlra let go, but immediately kicked him down. The night had been rainy, therefore mud was everywhere. Kohlra jumped on top of Irganese and began attempting to drown him in the mud, bringing him above the mud only to land a few blows, then dipping him back under.

This repeated for what seemed like an eternity, brutality becoming a common action like breathing for Kohlra. She stopped after a while, but only because she wanted to guarantee he'd be dead. She threw him way into the sky, and charged a similar attack Rayne used on Cell. "Shinzo Coil!!!" She launched this attack, the five colours of her family blasting out like a rainbow of death, hitting Irganese and entirely disintegrating him. Kohlra let her arms fall to her side, soon falling out of her Super Saiyan form, then to the ground, falling out of consciousness.


	2. Kohlra Quits Fighting, Until Rayne Shows

When Kohlra Came to, she was in an unfamiliar room, in a different outfit than she fell asleep in. She let out a small groan and attempted to get out of bed, only being met with her face to the floor. She let out a loud painful groan, and attempted to stand again, before Bulma ran into the room. "Hey! You're finally awake!" She hurried over to Kohlra and helped her sit down again. "W-where's my family? I need to save them..." Kohlra was confused and frantic, but Bulma was able to calm her down, and explained what happened.

"So, you just found me there?" Bulma silently nodded and sighed. "I'm afraid that you were the only one we found, not to mention you were, uh, how do I put this?" She timidly rubbed her head and looked away. "Well, you lacked any kind of clothing, so I brought you back here, and we got you some clothes." Kohlra scooted back into bed and stared of blankly for a moment, letting the fact her family was gone sink in. "They're all gone, and I'm the only one left." Kohlra brought her knees into her chest and buried her head into them. Bulma offered consolidation, but Kohlra was absolutely devastated.

Over the next week, Kohlra slowly healed physically, but deteriorated mentally. It was becoming so severe to the point where she accidentally blasted a hole in the wall, simply because she hallucinated that Irganese was right next to her. In the coming weeks, Kohlra was restored to her natural strength, but lost interest in fighting altogether. She ended up taking a job as a rice farmer, and lived happily alongside Bulma and Goku. This was the normal, until one day, years later, a world martial arts tournament was announced.

One day, Goku brought the tournament up to her in a conversation they were having. "Oh, um, I'm sorry. Can you run that by me one more time?" Goku pulled out the flyer for the tournament and handed it to her. "Its a martial arts tournament that takes the greatest fighters in the world and has them clash against each other! It could be a good way for you to get back into fighting!" Kohlra gave a sincere smile, and took the flyer. "I'm sorry Goku, but I can't fight anymore. I'm not fit to do it like I used to." Before the conversation could continue, a voice interrupted the two. "Hey, why don't you sign me up instead?" Kohlra's eyes widened, and she looked around, seeing no one. "Rayne? Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. There's also the rest of our family here, but only I can be heard by you." Kohlra gave a brighter smile, as Goku became confused. "Uh, what's a matter Kohlra? Who're you talking to?" Kohlra looked back to Goku, and chuckled. "Sorry, I have to take this one." She turned around and continued talking to Rayne. "You're really coming back down to Earth?" Rayne laughed and sighed. "My father is a deity. I can go anywhere within reason, and Earth is pretty reasonable." Kohlra laughed again and smiled. "Well, I'll be sure to get you a spot, alright?" Rayne audibly celebrated after hearing the news. "Great! I'll be sure to tell the others. See you then"


	3. Tournament Time! The Clan Reunites!

The weeks leading up to the tournament, the Shinzo Clan trained as hard as they could. Their training was extremely strenuous, but in the end it absolutely powered them up ten fold. As the day of the tournament arrived, everyone congregated in the tournament grounds. Kohlra waited in an area away from everyone else to wait for the rest of the clan. After about 9 minutes passed, she felt a tap on her shoulder. As she turned around, she was bombarded with hugs and love from her two children. They all began laughing and smiling greatly as she hugged them back while on the ground.

They hugged for a few minutes before standing back up. "So, Kohlra, it's very good to see you again. We've all missed you, but don't expect us to go easy on you just because we're family, okay?" Kohlra laughed and looked at him. "I know, but I just want you all to know that I've been training too, and whoever comes to be matched with me, I will defeat." Everyone shared a sincere laugh, before walking over to the registration, and signing up. Kohlra, Keytar, and Rayne all got into the Adult division, while Frostbyte and Vanilla were enlisted into the junior division, since they were absolutely childlike in nature, and were actually pretty young for their races.

The group headed to the changing rooms to put on their uniforms. Rayne and Kohlra were the first done, so they stepped outside to talk a bit. "So, how's life been going since, well, you know..." Kohlra looked down, tears slightly welling up in her eyes. "Well, I don't know exactly, I mean, obviously I didn't do a great job at protecting our family, ya know? I, uh, uh..." Kohlra began crying softly, Rayne soon bringing her into an embrace. "Well, it was my fault not making sure he was dead in the first place. Don't blame yourself about it." Kohlra shook her head, tears falling to the ground like small waterfalls at this point. "No, it was my fault, I thought we were safe but they died because of me!" Rayne grabbed her face and pulled her eyes to his. "Hey! You stop that right now. You had no hand in that scenario. I was sloppy, but I won't let it happen again. Whether or not we come back to life, you were not responsible for that, understand me?" Kohlra stared silently into his eyes, before giving a nod to him.

Soon after, the other three left the changing rooms, and they all walked to the tournament stage. Rayne, Keytar, and Kohlra all walked up into the very back of the seats, joining Goku, Krillin, 18, Vegeta, and Piccolo. The Junior division matches began, and it was a bunch of crying, and mindless flailing, except for the matches with Goten, Trunks, Vanilla, and Frostbyte. Frostbyte was abrasive and ended the matches quickly, not seeing them as a legitimate challenge. Vanilla, on the other hand, was quite the opposite, making sure that her opponents were enjoying the match. This continued until Frostbyte and Trunks, and Vanilla and Goten were matched up, the Junior division matches coming to an end. The fight between Trunks and Frostbyte was epic, making the stadium shake with the collisions of their punches. The battle raged on until Trunks became irritated that he couldn't get an upper hand on Frostbyte. He landed onto the ground and charged up an energy attack, Frostbyte doing the same. They both unleashed the attack, creating seismic shockwaves throughout the arena as the blasts connected.

The struggle was great, neither side getting an advantage. Frostbyte realised this, and simply let go, stopping the energy beam, but also landing outside of the arena, losing the fight. He would've normally been upset by this, but he simply laughed and walked out of the arena, letting Trunks revel in the victory. The next fight was Vanilla and Goten, which began soon after the previous fight. The fight took turns between talks and fighting. Since Vanilla wasn't able to keep up with his fighting, she talked to Goten and played to his empathetic side, or at least tried to, when he wasn't playing dumb. Or, maybe he wasn't playing, ah who knows?


	4. Vanilla and Goten's Battle Closes!

The fight with Vanilla and Goten kept this pattern up, and drawn out way longer than needed. Meanwhile, Rayne and Kohlra had been catching up a bit, since a lot can happen in a few years. "So, I was always wondering, who was your father anyway?" Rayne chuckled softly and looked away. "Well, to be honest, he's more like 2 fathers than just one. There's two physical manifestations of him, and the kinder one always helps me out, but the evil side of him..." Rayne paused, as he didn't want to speak of him, although he proceeded as Kohlra would've been open with him too.

"I'm not sure exactly how to describe him. He's pretty much the manifestation of evil itself. He's also locked away in a deep prison, so he's not going to get out anytime soon, but what he's done is far too horrid to even think about." He stared off, the memories flooding back. "Oh, well, I'm sure that his prison is strong enough to contain him, right?" Rayne smiled and looked at Kohlra. "Yeah, I am strong enough." They shared a sincere smile, before looking back to the tournament stage, seeing the match finally over. "And our winner is Vanilla!" Vanilla and Goten were standing in the middle of the stage, celebrating the victory together.

"Ah, it looks like your little girl won Rayne! Congratulations!" Rayne laughed and pat Goku on the back. "Thanks man, she did have a lot of time to train after all. Alright, next battle is Trunks versus Vanilla." Vegeta laughed and stepped forward to where Rayne could see him. "If you think that your little brat could beat Trunks you've got a reality check coming. The power of a Saiyan elite's child is one not to be tempting." Rayne smiled and turned towards him. "Well, compassion and fighting can go hand in hand, if you're able to balance it correctly, and Vanilla..." Rayne looked out to her, seeing the big smile on her face. "Well, she's just trying to have fun, and that's all I care about."

Vegeta began laughing, the idea of having fun in a tournament being an outlandish idea to him. "Fun? A tournament is no place for fun. It's a place for winning, and everything else is secondary." Rayne responded with laughter of his own, Kohlra joining in as well. "Well, we will see who wins then." Vegeta scoffed and stepped back against the wall, everyone's attention returning to the main stage, as the final battle was ready to commence.


	5. Junior Division Finale!

Trunks and Vanilla walked out to the stage, and as they did so, they exchanged words. "So, do you think that this will be a fun match Trunks? I'm so excited to spar with you!" Trunks looked over to Vanilla, and laughed in response. "This isn't a place for fun, you know. Your fight with Goten was nothing like what this fight will be. I'm not going to let you sweet talk me out of fighting. I won't hold back either." Vanilla looked at him with a confused expression. "I don't know what you're talking about, but sure. Let's have a fun match." She laughed quietly to herself, and stood across from him, ready to fight.

Rayne looked down and noticed that Vanilla was acting differently than normal. "Hey, Kohlra? You notice anything different about Vanilla?" Kohlra looked down to Vanilla, immediately sensing a different power level than what she remembered her having. "Ah, I do sense something strange. Maybe it's time for her to break her shell?" Rayne and Kohlra giggled to each other, large smiles across their face.

Vegeta was obviously upset at the blatant disrespect those two low-lifes were showing, or at least that's how he saw it. He stepped up to the railing in front of them, and yelled down to Trunks. "Trunks! If you don't win you'll never go to another amusement park again!" Rayne looked over to Vegeta, and smiled as he looked back down to Vanilla. "Vanilla, honey! It's alright if you lose! I want you to have fun, okay?" Vanilla looked up at Rayne, and smiled as she waved to him.

While she was distracted, though, the match had started, and Trunks took an easy victory, charging Vanilla and pushing her out of the ring. As Vanilla landed, Rayne and Kohlra both reacted in disbelief, while Vegeta chuckled to himself. "See, Shinzo? That's what 'fun' gets you in a tournament. Second place." Rayne looked at Vegeta, before he turned and stormed off, leaving Goku and Vegeta alone, while Kohlra chased after him.


	6. Rayne's Anger grows!

"Rayne!" Kohlra called out to him as she quickly caught up, their walking pace being frantic as Rayne was muttering to himself, obviously having some sort of mental obstacles trying to take over. Kohlra simply followed him until he stopped in a secluded area outside of the main arena. "Rayne! Jesus Christ hun, what's going on? You said it was okay if she lost." Rayne had calmed down a little bit from the walk, but was still quite on edge.

Rayne frantically spoke in one long run on sentence:

"I said it was okay but I lied okay I wanted her to beat the pulp out of that brat and show his father what's up but NOOOOOOO she has to spend time focusing away from her enemy and that lost her the match and I might add that Vegeta oooooohhhhh GOD I WANNA CRUSH HIM but I won't I won't because I love my family and what's best for them is not murdering someone premeditatively it's controlling my anger but anger control isn't a strong suit of mine and I SWEAR I DIDN'T EAT THE COOKIES KING KAI IT WAS GREGORY!" King Kai had begun listening in, and Rayne could hear a distant monkey after he blamed Gregory for the cookie mishap.

Kohlra was utterly bewildered as to what was happening. "Rayne, are you going to tell me what that was all about?" Rayne stopped mid frantic rant and looked warmly over to Kohlra, clearing his throat and wiping off his gi. "My apologies Darling, I simply became carried away." Kohlra sighed and stood in front of him with her arms crossed. "You do realise that everyone saw you storm off right? Including Vanilla?" Rayne sighed and nodded timidly. "How about we go back and see how our little girl feels huh?" She placed her hand onto his shoulder, causing Rayne to look at her and give a soft smile, soon following her back to the stands where he was met by Frostbyte and Vanilla.

Vanilla immediately ran to Rayne and hugged him, followed by Frostbyte walking over and fist bumping him as well. "Well now, I see that my trainees came close to winning, and I am proud of what you've done, but you've earned level 5 training next time, understood?" Vanilla immediately let go, holding her arms behind her back and nodding timidly, while Frostbyte was utterly upset at this news. "Are you serious man? That's so lame! I was going to go to the amusement park with Trunks and Bulma!" Rayne looked down at Frostbyte, his sudden deathly stare and unempathetic voice sending terror into Frost's heart. "Level 5 all this week, no rest. I will not raise a failure."

A couple moments passed before Goku spoke up. "Um, not to tell you how to raise your kids, but it might be a good idea to ease up a little on them. I don't think they could handle that caliber of training." Rayne looked over to Goku, before snapping out of his trance-like state. "Oh my gosh, I apologise guys, go ahead and go to the amusement park with Trunks, jeez I need a nap." He turned away from everyone, only facing Kohlra. He sighed and looked at her as the others walked away, leaving Vegeta, Goku, Rayne and Kohlra to prepare for the bracket selection.


End file.
